Puccini, Giacomo

New Catholic Encyclopedia
COPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc.

PUCCINI, GIACOMO

Opera composer; b. Lucca, Italy, Dec. 22, 1858; d. Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 29, 1924. His ancestors for four generations were church musicians, and he was expected to carry on the tradition. After studies at the Lucca and Milan conservatories and two posts as church organist, however, he devoted himself almost entirely to opera composition. Of his 12 operas, Manon Lescaut (1892), La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madame Butterfly (1904), Gianni Schicchi (1918), and the unfinished Turandot are most popular. They are characterized by a melodious style, superb orchestration, idiomatic vocal writing, and a telling sense of theater. "Lax in his religious beliefs, if not actually an unbeliever" (Carner), he did, however, produce a Mass in A-flat (1880, published 1951 as Messa di Gloria ), nonliturgical and highly operatic throughout (the Agnus Dei was later used in Manon Lescaut ). An early motet for the feast of St. Paulina and an unpublished Requiem (1905) are his only other essays in church music, although he used religious ceremonies for dramatic effect in Tosca and Suor Angelica.

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